JWT’s AnxietyIndex is designed as a place to discuss how brands and consumers are responding to the global recession. With daily content updates, AnxietyIndex.com includes contributions from around JWT’s network, offering a truly global perspective.

Three out of five Britons believe London is doomed to become “a ghetto for the super-rich.” This is one of several provocative findings that surfaced in JWT London’s sixth Austerity Index report, revealing a boiling pot of anxiety and tensions that are condensing into a hard-line stance on housing market regulation. As competition rises and affordability dips, a backlash is finding its target in immigrants, “transplants” and investors: Over a third of respondents in our study would even make it illegal for non-nationals to own property in the U.K.

Along with tracking the usual metrics to gauge the effect of prolonged austerity on British consumers, the latest survey looks at housing, which is becoming a serious and emotive problem in Britain. As wages have stagnated and mortgage lending criteria have constricted, the outlook for aspiring property buyers seems bleak. JWT London’s survey shows that almost half of those yet to start on the property ladder make a direct link between home ownership and their own self-worth. And while 46 percent of those unable to get onto the property ladder fear for their futures, 48 percent have lost hope that their grandchildren will ever own property in the U.K.

Marie Stafford, Planning Foresight Director at JWT London, explains: “The significance of property in the population’s psyche is somewhat exceptional to the U.K. compared to our neighbours in Europe, where renting is the norm. The divide between the haves and have-nots is getting keener, and nowhere is this felt more strongly than in the property market.”

The full report is available to download at austerityindex.com, along with reports from previous quarters.

The ever-rising cost of housing across key markets has long been a source of anxiety for Canadians—an important factor for banks to be conscious of when finding ways to connect with their consumers. A recent report by Royal Bank of Canada highlights that point of anxiety. Based on Statistics Canada’s most recent Survey of Financial Security, the report uses data broken out by household age. And while the ongoing rise in home prices has meant increased net worth for many older Canadians, it’s meant more debt for younger ones.

Royal Bank of Canada has used dynamic ways to connect with this cohort of new home buyers and help ease the stress that comes along with a first mortgage. Earlier this year they posted faux movie trailers to YouTube that reflect the different types of stress encountered in the mortgage process. For the overwhelmed, they created a drama, and there’s a horror theme for those intimidated by it all; for people who are more excited than stressed, there’s a romantic comedy.

The campaign, which includes clickable links to relevant RBC sites and social content, taps into consumer anxiety and positions RBC as an understanding expert in the process. As home prices continue to rise and uncertainty about the debt taken on remains, banks will need to find more ways to reassure and aid consumers.